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Phantom Trigger |OT| Slashing through neon lights (Switch/PC)

Jodast

Member
Enjoying the game so far on the Switch but I can't seem to get past the first level. When trying to exit the game crashes. Has anyone else experienced this?
 

Jiguryo

Aryan mech phallus gun
I bought it and the style and gameplay look solid. The only thing that irks me a bit is the repetition of the attack sound effect - small detail, but still!

And yes, I'm already curious about its backstory.
 

69wpm

Member
Got a review copy and will post some early impressions here soon; review will take a while because I'm really busy this week.
 
Steam reviews doesn't look too good, damn I was hoping on a fun title on the Switch.
Two bad user reviews out of like the 7 on there that just consist of comparing it unfavorably to Hyper Light Drifter probably doesn't paint you a whole picture on the quality of this game, mate.
 

Coketruck

Member
I'm not very far into the game (still somewhere in the first level, but I think I'm approaching a boss), but it's fun so far. It scratches that Secret of Mana itch of running around a top-down environment, beating the hell out of multiple enemies at once, only with more combat variety thanks to the combos. Not saying it's anywhere as deep or lengthy as SoM, but that's always the first thing I think of when I think of the top-down adventure brawler type of games.
 

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Not usually keen on professional reviews, but there's so little info on this game and I already bought Severed and Elminage Original from the eShop this week. Looking for something a little more informed than a blind buy for this.
 
Review of the game from me and my daughter, we were playing coop though the game. So far really enjoyed it.. though to be fair , it took a bit to get into a groove. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning.

http://www.geeksvsgeeks.com/2017/08/phantom-trigger.html

Maybe it will help anyone on this game. I could not add any of my own footage because we are traveling.

Thanks for the review! I thought it was really well done and an enjoyable read!
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
The game is good I'm having fun with it so far, but it's kind of annoying that select is mapped to b and not a.


I totally agree
Nut if this is the major concern it means the game is goood!
My review will take a little bit
Summer break holiday here in Italy
 
Review of the game from me and my daughter, we were playing coop though the game. So far really enjoyed it.. though to be fair , it took a bit to get into a groove. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning.

http://www.geeksvsgeeks.com/2017/08/phantom-trigger.html

Maybe it will help anyone on this game. I could not add any of my own footage because we are traveling.

Terrific review.

Is your daughter a gamer? I want to play this with my wife but she's as casual as it comes so it might be too challenging or frustrating for her.
 

Scrawnton

Member
Just bought the game and am looking forward to jumping into it.

Going in based on some gameplay vids. Will post some impressions on it if people are curious.
 

Kebiinu

Banned
Read some reviews posted in here, but I'm still a bit cautious. Does the gameplay get stale? I love the artstyle, and I have yet to own a top down title in my Switch collection. It's between this and Slime Boy for me. As great as the curation system has been, I still can't believe the eShop doesn't have reviews enabled!
 
Alright, beat boss 1 and am halfway through level two. Here's some impressions.

The combat is fun, and I haven't found it too repetitive because you get combos at a steady pace. Having said that - it doesn't seem like any moves can be canceled into the dodge, which makes things slow (slower than they should be imo).

The whip is great to pull enemies back in, but it has to be aimed pretty accurately with the joystick which leads to a lot of frustrating misses. This is exacerbated by the large visual flair of the whip (and all your weapons for that matter) which can appear to clip enemies with no effect. It's easy to feel like you're constantly either a few pixels off or just getting robbed.

The whip can also be used to throw certain enemies or objects into other enemies. The only problem is this is really easy to trigger when you were trying to pull an enemy and can lead to you eating damage.

It feels like they should have given you more forward momentum - the knuckles, for example, are supposed to be your slow, heavy attack. But not only do they not do that much more damage than the sword, they also barely move you forward, so if you haven't already slowed or immobilized the enemy then it can be hard to trap them. The only real way to interrupt the enemies are with the second or third hit of the knuckles but it's just rare that I have an enemy nearby on that hit who I haven't already frozen.

So most of the combos are about freezing enemies or slowing them down, or burning them for DoT. This is all prettt fun, but it just needs to be pushed and polished a bit more for it to be great.

There are, however, really lame arena fights with color coded enemies. This is never a good gameplay choice, and it sucks here too because the arenas are small (limiting your best move - the dash). Additionally, limiting the already small move set even further isn't fun. Plus the colors change, and one of the colors os "invincible." Not really fun to just dash around waiting for them to change.

The visuals are overall nice, the music is pretty standout. Hopefully the story picks up, but the dialogue is a little cheesy. Feels like it's just there to be there.

For 11 bucks though, it's so far worth it. I'm going to lean heavy on the co op though as that's one of my favorite things. I'll check back in once I've played some more
 

fernoca

Member
FWIW, I found the old eShop reviews to be entirely useless. Just about every title had way more stars than it deserved.
Same as everyone else. PSN and Xbox have a ton of people 5 staring games just because they bought them or 1 star for the lols.

At least is a bit funny on Xbox One since people can leave a written review. "5 stars: I just preordered this, can't wait!
 

rSpooky

Member
Terrific review.

Is your daughter a gamer? I want to play this with my wife but she's as casual as it comes so it might be too challenging or frustrating for her.

Whoa so many responses to my review , thanks guys.

To answer this specific question, my kids grew up with a gamer so in a way they are, but so far they have not been too hard core and mostly are into lighter games, most with rpg elements. Though my middle one ( the one who helped me review this one) is getting real good lately at many other games, she is starting to kick my ass more at games these days , loves undertale, finished both gravity rush games and the all the uncharted games for example. Our shared passion for geek culture is one of the reasons I started this blog/site community with them so they can learn about content creation and the work it takes ( after many requests to try to become youtube stars hehe)

As for playing this with your wife, If you can carry her most of the way and your wife can grasp the concepts of the game ( controls) you should be fine. Though at times she could get a bit "lost" I guess if there is a lot of stuff going on on screen. Perhaps the shared health could make her feel bad if she is the one causing you guys to die.Perhaps have her first watch you . Good thing is that is jump in coop so she can bail when it becomes overwhelming.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
My Italian review
http://www.switchitalia.it/2017/08/14/phantom-trigger/#comment-4373

7.5

Really liked the game.

The cons are a very high diccifulty, some hit box non perfectly managed, too much closed arena segments and the initial loading time

The pros are a very good art direction, with great pixel art but especially great OST and SFX, an addictive battle system and a disturbing story/setting

Mention of honor for the switch drop in drop out multiplayer mode that is DOPE for real
 
I think I encountered an odd bug in the 4th area...

Right after I got the statue it's first batch of gold, I hit the cart to proceed downwards. I saw a checkpoint next to where the cart would have stopped, so I zipped past the cart to reach it. The moment I touched the checkpoint the cart was off it's tracks, and rolling through the wall. Right after the cart was off screen, it re-appered where it would have stopped, and I was warped to the fight against Stan. After the fight against Stan, I was warped to a different area in the mines, completely unconnected to where I would have been.

Anyone here know if that is just how the game is scripted? That was incredibly disorientating, and felt off. Even for a game that tells it's story the way it does.


Edit: Nevermind. Picked this back up after running errands, and after clearing the area I warped back to where I was at. That was an incredibly odd direction the game took.
 

Insaniac

Member
I was enjoying the game at first, but I've beaten the second boss only to find that the third area seems to be more of the same. Very small change in enemy behavior. Anybody who has played through, is this consistent for the remainder of the game? Also, is there any real purpose to the "camp" or whatever? I go around and talk to the people each time but they don't seem to really offer anything to the game at this point except a quick one-liner
 
My Italian review
http://www.switchitalia.it/2017/08/14/phantom-trigger/#comment-4373

7.5

Really liked the game.

The cons are a very high diccifulty, some hit box non perfectly managed, too much closed arena segments and the initial loading time

The pros are a very good art direction, with great pixel art but especially great OST and SFX, an addictive battle system and a disturbing story/setting

Mention of honor for the switch drop in drop out multiplayer mode that is DOPE for real

How do they handle the difficulty with the drop in drop out co op? Is it the same, do they add more enemies, etc...?
 

Jodast

Member
Finished the game. It was pretty good but frustrating as heck. Pretty glitchy too. Had a few enemies that would just freeze and no longer react and you can use the dash to avoid what I'm guessing are meant to be scripted scenes
bull in the third level if you don't kill rabbit
.

The story was pretty good, even if it felt at times like your dialog choices were pointless. Pretty dark ending though I'm guessing one of the other three endings are more hopeful.

The graphics look pretty nice in handheld mode though the music was pretty forgettable for me.

The gameplay kinda became stale by the end, the levels just seemed too long when trying to fully explore them because of the difficulty and the fact that there just isn't much to find. I also found some of the combos were pointless. It seemed unless you needed to freeze an enemy the best was just heavy, heavy, dash. Also, fuck the jumping slime things.

I know some of that sounds negative, but it is quite a fun game when you're on a roll. I'm glad I played it and maybe in the future I'll do another play through. But for now, I'm done. 7/10 if there is a score to give.
 
What am i supposed to do after the
monsterized stan
? I'm in the
mines
And there is no escape. Must I kill all monsters?
 
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